Fine-art painting is enjoyable.
Composition of a fine-art painting catches the viewer's eye and defines the artwork. Selecting the focus for a painting can sometimes be the biggest challenge. When starting a painting, having a workable idea is essential and will help you in your creative endeavor. Whether working with oils, tempera, acrylic or watercolor paints, these ideas can be the start of a fine painting.
Landscape and the Rule of Thirds
A landscape is an easy subject because it will not move or change too greatly. Either working en plain air (outdoors) at the landscape's location or from a photograph, a landscape is a time-tested subject for a painting. LarrysArt.com suggests sitting outside on your porch and sketching the landscape around you before beginning the painting. Once satisfied with a landscape, you can begin by sketching it onto your canvas or paper. Consider composition and the rule of thirds when creating the painting. The rule of thirds suggests dividing your composition into a grid of nine equal rectangles and placing major elements of your landscape, such as trees, mountaintops or buildings, at points where the grid intersects.
Once you are satisfied with your sketch, finish the painting with whatever type of paint you have chosen.
Primary-Color Still Life
Still-life painting offers the opportunity to start and stop painting whenever you like. Nancy Doyle, of NancyDoyleFineArt.com, suggests using limited colors for a still-life painting to encourage experimenting with color mixing. You can fill your palette with white, black, yellow, red, and blue to help hone color mixing and create a different take on a still life.
You can compose the still life with whatever items you want and position them however you want. Doyle suggests keeping the arrangement simple, such as a few items of fruit in a decorative bowl, and experimenting with color and brush strokes to create a finished painting.
Balanced Abstract
Create an abstract fine-art painting allowing freedom of expression and composition. Geometric shapes, bright colors and defined lines are all characteristics of abstract art. You can make your painting either somewhat representational or entirely free form, based only on color, light or movement.
You can use geometric or organic shapes. Be sure to maintain a feeling of balance in the painting. If the painting seems unbalanced, you can sometimes bring it together more by using repeated colors, lines, or shapes.
